The first Covid case rate figures to be published for dates after the end of free Covid-19 mass testing show a continued decline in prevalence in the North East - but the number of people in our region still with the virus is, at least, in the thousands.
March 31 was the last day where mass testing centres like the one in Newcastle Great Park were open for business - and lateral flow tests have not been free since then. However, around the UK 585,806 tests were still reported on April 1, compared to 689,444 a week earlier.
Therefore, while the lack of free testing may have begun to affect the figures - and the Government added a warning to its data to reflect that the changes would affect almost every metric on the national coronavirus dashboard - there is still an indication of how the virus is spreading in our communities.
